Monroe-Woodbury lacrosse team relies on multi-sport players

For Monroe-Woodbury boys’ lacrosse coach Steve Brown, the mix of talents that his players bring to the field has been one explanation for the Crusaders’ early success in 2014.

The physical nature of lacrosse attracts those with football experience. Around the goal, it’s more of a finesse game, which comes naturally to hockey players. The open field running is second nature to a player who grew up chasing fly balls in the outfield in Little League.

“It’s a blend of all sports,” Brown said. “There are guys that used to play baseball, there’s football players, there’s hockey players. I think the sport of lacrosse combines a lot of different sports. There’s hockey movement and even basketball movement. Offensively, it’s the same. They’ve done a great job playing together this year.”

Football is a passion for junior John La Bella, who served as a team captain and tight end on a Crusaders team that advanced to the state championship game last season at the Carrier Dome. He picked up a lacrosse stick for the first time in eighth-grade and found a freedom he doesn’t have on the gridiron.

“It was similar because of the contact, but you can take the ball wherever you want all over the field and make cuts,” said La Bella, a defender. “It depends on your position in football. You’re limited.”

For senior attack Ryan Fischer, playing hockey helped him deal with the rough-and-tumble aspect of possessing the ball on the offensive end.

“It’s definitely physical,” he said, “especially getting whacked a lot. You’re going to get hit in the head. That’s part of the game, even if most of the time it’s unintentional, you’re going to get beat up and whacked around a lot. In hockey, there’s less with the stick and stuff, but in lacrosse you’re going to get banged up. It’s part of the game.”

Fischer leads the team in scoring with 11 goals through four games.

Sean Degnan, a junior attack, is second with nine goals.

Degnan played baseball in his younger days, but gravitated to lacrosse when some of his friends gave the sport a shot.

“It’s physical, but at the same time, you’re always moving, trying to get open,” Degnan said. “There’s a lot of technique to it, when you shoot, pass, stuff like that.”

Monroe-Woodbury, which beat Warwick in the season opener, the Crusaders’ first win over the Wildcats since 2008, might not be relying on athletes switching from other sports for long. The youth lacrosse program for Monroe-Woodbury, established in 2010, is finally starting to see its alumni on the varsity roster.

The Crusaders players credit their youth experience, however limited, as another reason why they’re off to such a strong start this season.

“It’s a mixed sport,” Degnan said. “A lot of kids play other sports, but a lot of them are focused on lacrosse and that really helps. They focus on one sport, they get better at it.”

“The youth club came in 2010. That was the first year,” Fischer said. “So we were the first class that had the youth club with us. Most of us seniors, we played in the youth club and we’ve been playing together the last five years.”

Varsity845 Top 5 rankings

1. Valley Central (5-1): The Vikings are cruising early and they own a key win over out-of-section Delaware Valley (Pa.).

2. Warwick (4-1): The Wildcats bounced back from a loss to Monroe-Woodbury by beating Minisink Valley on Thursday. Warwick doesn’t play again until April 22, a big road game at Valley Central.

3. Minisink Valley (3-2): The Warriors’ defense might be a work in progress, but Joe Sessa has kept the offense a consistent force. Sessa, a junior attack, has 22 goals and 28 assists through five games.

4. Rondout Valley (4-0): The Ganders can score plenty of goals, as they did by hanging 22 on Burke Catholic on Thursday. Rondout Valley’s biggest strength, however, is its defense. It held Burke to eight shots in that game.

5. Delaware Valley (Pa.) (6-1): The Warriors are rolling in their Keystone State games, and they’ve also had some big wins across the border, handing Monroe-Woodbury its first loss on Friday.